Gidion's Blood

by Bill Blume

  Gidion jerked the phone away from his ear as a loud crack and rattle thundered over it, no doubt from Grandpa slamming down the handset. He didn’t bother plugging his phone back into the car stereo. Instead, he turned into the parking lot of the Capital Ale House. These places stayed open pretty late and made some great hamburgers, too. One night, he’d come here to pick up a late dinner and ended up chasing down a vampire who’d come here hoping for a late night snack of his own. It was easier to find his prey by thinking less like a vampire and more like the people they hunted, going to the places people frequented at night.

  His hopes for finding his target’s VW went unfulfilled. Things were already winding down at this restaurant, not many cars in the parking lot. He went inside and ordered a burger called a Ring of Fire. He knew from experience that one had a good burn to it, perfect for a night as cold as this.

  He waited by the bar and pulled out his phone to text his girlfriend.

  ‘Looks like my hunting is ending early tonight. You want to chat when I get home?’

  Shortly after Tamara moved to Phoenix, he’d bought a camera for his laptop so they could see each other when they talked. Up until Christmas, they’d been trading emails, texting and calling each other almost daily. She’d gotten busier this month, and his timing had stunk. They didn’t get to see each other as much, since he stayed out late most nights, even with the time difference.

  By the time his food was ready and he’d paid for it, Gidion’s girlfriend still hadn’t answered. The app showed she’d received his text, but she still hadn’t sent a reply by the time he made it home.

  His dog Page barked at him through the front door as he unlocked it. He struggled past her. The large German Shepherd mix sniffed at him as he walked to the kitchen. His phone chimed like a small bell, the sound he’d plugged in for when he received a text from Tamara.

  “Yes!” He pulled out his phone, hoping his luck had finally turned for the evening.

  ‘Sorry, can’t talk. Out with some friends.’

  “Great.” So much for his luck improving.

  He sent a reply back, promising to text her again soon. Page dropped flat on the floor, her tail wagging as she whimpered, her way of saying she was desperate to go outside.

  “Oh, all right.” She jumped around like a rabbit as he walked to the front door to put her out on her leash. While she did her business, he sat at the kitchen table to eat and went through his email. He loved this new phone. Dad had finally brought them both into the current century this past Christmas.

  The most recent email came from his Dad’s work account. Odd. He usually sent texts, but as soon as Gidion read the email, he understood why he wasn’t texting. Dad couldn’t find his cell, wanted to make sure he’d left it at home and hadn’t dropped it somewhere.

  Gidion went upstairs and into Dad’s room. He found the black phone sitting on the bed. He brought it downstairs with him and set it on the kitchen table. As he typed an email to let Dad know he’d found his phone, the display on Dad’s phone lit up. He wondered if it was one of his dad’s co-workers texting him. Their consoles allowed them to communicate with an Instant Messenger program, but Internal Affairs and the 911 supervisors could read that stuff. For their personal conversations, a lot of them preferred to text.

  He glanced at the message. It was from someone named Lillian. ‘Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow night and meeting everyone at the Byrd.’

  The message showed in the notification since the sender had kept it short. Dad’s phone never would have let him read it otherwise. Dad used two different password commands to access the phone. He believed in double-confirmation with most anything computer-related, and he had never let Gidion use his stuff.

  “Wow. Go, Dad.” His dad had behaved like a monk ever since Mom died more than a decade ago, which had also ended Dad’s vampire hunting career. He glanced at the wedding portrait of his mom on the wall near the kitchen table. When Grandpa showed Gidion that vampires were real, he’d never said Mom was the reason Dad stopped hunting, but it didn’t take a genius to connect it. He knew Dad missed her, but Gidion had been pushing him to date again. He even had a deal with his Dad to ask out his world history teacher if he got all As in her class this school year, and that’s when it hit him. He looked back at the phone and that name, Lillian.

  “Miss Aldgate?” His teacher was texting his dad after midnight on a Friday. Were they planning a date for tomorrow night?

  Even if it wasn’t a date, it was a hell of a lot more than Gidion was doing. He sent his email to Dad, not bothering to mention the text from his teacher. While he waited on Dad’s reply, he looked back at his phone and the text from Tamara.

  Not even one o’clock, and he was at home instead of hunting vampires. This sucked.

  Dad replied about the same time Gidion let Page back in the house. He said not to bother with bringing him the phone. Told him thanks and to get some sleep.

  Gidion sent a reply wishing his dad a good night. He knew better than to hope he had a “quiet night.” Mentioning the Q word was a major jinx word for dispatchers. Dad said it was worse than uttering “Macbeth” in a theater.

  He tossed his trash in the garbage can, much to his dog’s disappointment. Page yawned as she plopped down in front of the TV to pout. She stared at him as he bundled up again. He wanted another shot at finding GQ Drac, and he had a new idea for how to find him.

  Chapter Four

  Clothes might make the man, but the car he drives says a lot more about him. A guy in a Lexus so pristine and shiny that it might have rolled off the dealer’s lot that morning is working with a lot of cash. Someone like GQ Drac, who drives a rust-covered and dented older model VW van that looks less posh than a rat’s nest, isn’t going to spend his sleeping hours at the five-star Jefferson Hotel.

  Using one of those hotel finder websites, Gidion plotted the cheapest hotels in the metro area. After that, he worked his way out from Westhampton where his target had kissed the hood of that Rav4. He started on the nearest major road, West Broad Street. He drove past the dark strip malls and neon-bright twenty-four hour convenience stores, looking through the lots of the hotels on his list.

  When he didn’t find anything on Broad, he moved outward, staying with the hotels closest to the interstates, I-64 and I-95. A little after two o’clock, he pulled into a hotel along Chamberlayne Road, just off of I-95. The hotel was north of Richmond and was surrounded by a lot of apartment complexes. If they put this place on a Monopoly board, it certainly wouldn’t be anywhere near Boardwalk and Park Place.

  Parked in the corner of the lot, about as far from the building as a car could get, Gidion found the VW van. His prey chose the darkest part of the lot, maybe hoping he might turn another guest into a snack and drain them in the van.

  Gidion parked a few spaces away. He’d learned the hard way that his car was permanently stained with vampire blood from his kills. A vampire had figured out he was a hunter just by sniffing the car as he walked past it. That’s how he’d learned vampires could pick up on the distinct scent of their kind’s blood. Given how GQ Drac ran earlier, Gidion decided it was best to keep his car far enough away to avoid detection. He just hoped the wind would cooperate.

  The parking lot wasn’t crowded. What were the chances he could go door-to-door until he found the guy? Answer: not good. Some irritated guest might call the police. Not that it would end any better for him anywhere else, but he was all too aware he was in Henrico County, the jurisdiction where Dad worked.

  A gust shook his car, and Gidion heard what sounded like a distant, muffled scream. He thought it came from the direction of the VW. The second scream confirmed it. He watched the van to see if it moved, but he couldn’t tell. The van was backed into its space with a wooded area just behind it, a great place to dump a body.

  He hesitated but then decided he couldn’t wait. If someone was in there, then they didn’t have much longer. As he jumped out of his car, the cold air hit him lik
e a wall and sucked the breath out of him. He pulled out his box cutter and extended the blade as he ran for the van. He couldn’t see if anyone was inside. The windows were covered on the inside with curtains.

  The vampire had left the passenger door unlocked earlier. Gidion gambled GQ Drac didn’t lock the other doors either. Deciding he didn’t want to be visible from the hotel, he went for the far side of the van and jerked the door open.

  Empty. The back didn’t even have any seats. They’d been removed. Dark blue, vinyl mats, the kind he’d napped on back in kindergarten, covered the floor. If a vampire killed someone back here, wouldn’t be hard to wash out the evidence. A dark red tool box was shoved against the back of the van, just over where the engine would go.

  Gidion slammed the door shut. He wondered if the screams had been nothing more than the wind, but then he heard another, a shriek from the woods.

  He ran in the direction of the woman’s cry. The idea GQ Drac had decided to take his snack “camping” made perfect sense. Why clean when you can dine and dispose in one shot?

  Then he heard the gunshots. He stopped in the middle of the wooded area with the moonlight and parking lot lights hidden by the evergreens. The noise reminded him of whip cracks on steroids. For a split second, he considered they might only be firecrackers, but then he heard more screams. Just lovely. He’d gone hunting for a vampire and stumbled onto some domestic or gang fight.

  More shots fired, deeper than the first and closer. He felt the sound of the shots reverberate through the air and into his chest.

  He turned and ran back towards the hotel before any bullets ventilated him.

  Shouts chased him. Someone or maybe several people had just entered the woods from the opposite side.

  Gidion rushed back into the parking lot by the VW. More yelling came from the woods, and he picked out at least three different voices. He’d never reach his car before these guys got out of the woods.

  He froze, and in that split second of indecision, he heard another gunshot. That made the choice for him. He gave up on reaching his car and dove into the vampire’s van.

  Police sirens followed. They raced past the hotel on Chamberlayne. They must have been close when the calls started coming into the 911 center. He heard several curses from just outside the van. He scrambled to lock all the doors. He needn’t have worried. The guys coming out of the woods ran past the van and towards the hotel.

  Once he’d calmed his heart and his breathing, he realized the cops were going the wrong way. He pulled out his cell phone but stopped short of calling 911. They’d see his phone number. Worse, what if Dad got the call and recognized the phone number?

  These guys might have just killed someone, and he couldn’t even do anything about it.

  Just then, a police car pulled into the parking lot. Apparently, the police had already figured on people possibly running this way. The police car passed right by the van. Gidion ducked, praying he’d been fast enough not to be seen. A white light mounted on the police car’s driver side door flashed towards the van. He stayed down, pressing into the vinyl mats. Whatever antiseptic cleaner GQ Drac used to wipe down these mats overwhelmed his nose. Beneath that, he detected a hint of blood. He looked up and saw the flood light pass through the van’s windows and then slide past to focus on the woods. Gidion waited another moment to make sure the light didn’t come back in his direction. He crouched up towards the driver side window and saw the police cruiser rolling past his car, the light trained on the woods.

  If he got out of the van, he could tell the officer what he’d seen. He’d gotten a good look at all three men, could give a detailed description of what they were wearing, but he couldn’t risk it. Climbing out of this van and revealing himself to the officer would also raise too many questions. Chief among them would be why he was hiding in someone else’s van. They’d probably run his name and date-of-birth to see if he was wanted, and it was a sure thing someone up in the 911 center would realize they’d just run Aric Keep’s only son. Dad would lose his shit if he realized what Grandpa had him doing. Come to think of it, even Grandpa would light into him at this point. He was supposed to be in bed and resting for work in the morning.

  He readied himself to jump from the van the minute the police car disappeared from the hotel lot, but it didn’t. The cruiser stopped in the middle of the lot and kept its light sweeping over the woods. It even passed through the van windows a few more times.

  His heart pounded as if he was running again. He was trapped. No way he could get out of the van and make it to his car without being seen. Add to that, he looked suspicious as hell. He was wearing all black with a hoodie. Never mind the sword strapped to his back and the box cutter in his front pocket.

  He’d just have to wait out the officer. Then the flood light on the cruiser went dark. He dared to hope he’d get out of here clean, but the police car didn’t pull away. Instead, the officer got out. He walked up to the Little Hearse and shined a flashlight to look inside the car and see if anyone was hiding there. He didn’t take long to see Gidion’s car was empty.

  Then the officer headed towards the van.

  Chapter Five

  All sorts of solutions to hide rushed through Gidion’s mind as the officer walked towards the van. He thought about hiding under the vinyl mats, but moving around to do that would rock the van and make it even more obvious someone was hiding in it. There was the slim chance he could jump out the other side and run for it, but the time for that had long since past. These officers had probably established a perimeter by now. They’d close in on him the minute he ran. On top of that, they might have a plane on the way and a canine unit.

  That left him one option: crouch as low as he could go, stay still as a statue and pray this officer’s eyesight was total crap. At least the side windows were covered.

  Gidion positioned himself just behind the driver’s seat. He saw the beam of light cut through the space between the front seats. He jerked back from that light.

  Then he heard the officer’s radio squawk. He couldn’t make out what the voices said, but he heard the urgent tone to the words.

  The blade of light vanished. Then a car door slammed, followed by the fading rumble of an engine.

  Gidion pulled up just enough to peer around the driver’s seat. The police cruiser raced out of the hotel lot and disappeared down Chamberlayne Road.

  He sat up and took a few deep breaths. His hands shook. He watched them in fascination, then balled them into tight fists to make them stop.

  Gidion jumped out of the van, scrambled into the Little Hearse and fought the urge to plant the accelerator against the floorboard. Only once he’d gotten out of the hotel lot and onto the interstate did he floor it.

  • • •

  The morning arrived way too early and with the thunderous klaxon of his phone’s alarm, but it was the slam of his bedroom door that sent him bolt upright in bed.

  “Gidion!”

  His brain took a moment to register that his father was leaning into his bedroom and staring at him. No, staring didn’t really describe it. Dad glared in a way that demanded to know how someone who shared half of his DNA could be doing something so stupid. He just wasn’t awake enough to figure out what fresh hell he’d managed to step into until Dad’s eyes got even wider.

  “Son! Turn off the alarm already. I had just gotten to sleep.”

  His alarm. Gidion had slept through the first three alarms on his phone. The fourth one sounded like an aircraft carrier racing its way into World War III. He turned it off.

  “Thank you.” Dad disappeared from his doorway. Gidion was about to put his head back on the pillow until Dad yelled from his room. “Aren’t you supposed to be working this morning?”

  Gidion looked back at his phone. The time displayed was 9:02.

  “AUGH!”

  He needed to be at the funeral home by 9:30 for the 10:00. That gave him all of three minutes to scrub the foulness from his teeth, brush his hair i
nto submission and get dressed in a suit and tie. He had a better chance of burping up a unicorn.

  A few more panicked screams followed as his usual morning routine transformed into a mad, nightmarish, multi-tasking disaster.

  “Trying to sleep here.” Dad’s muffled complaint called through the closed door to his bedroom.

  Gidion ran for the front door, passing his dog’s indifferent stare from where she lounged on her favorite chair in the den. Grandpa’s stare would be anything but indifferent by the time Gidion reached work.

  Milligan’s Funeral Home resembled a flat group of beige brick boxes that reminded Gidion of a poorly played game of Tetris. The parking lot was already filling up when Gidion turned into it. He’d hoped to sneak in the back, through the garage, but as soon as he stepped inside, there was Grandpa all decked out in full mobster mode with his black suit and tie. He gripped his cane as if he planned to beat Gidion with it.

  “You’re late.”

  By all of five minutes, which Gidion considered pretty impressive given when he’d gotten out of bed. “Sorry.”

  “We’ll talk about it later. Get the cars lined up.” Grandpa limped down the hallway to the front of the funeral home. “Reverend ‘Fast Lips’ Connor is doing the first service.”

  Fabulous. Reverend Connor was the only preacher who always finished early. As Gidion’s day progressed, that proved the exception. Almost every other service ran at least a half hour late.

  By the time Gidion parked the hearse in the garage after the last funeral, it was a quarter before three o’clock. Grandpa sucked on his pipe as he sat on a stool in the garage. If he bit on the stem any harder, the pipe might snap in half.

  “You remember to fill it up?” He didn’t hide his skepticism, glancing at his watch.

  “I did.” Gidion didn’t have time for this, not if he was going to go after the vampire from last night. “See?” He held up a large cup of coffee he’d gotten from the Wawa on the way back.